


Barrayaran Roses

by Rubynye



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Conversations, Gen, Inspired by Music, Roses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29574729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubynye/pseuds/Rubynye
Summary: The biggest weed Ekaterin's ever seen.
Relationships: Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan & Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29
Collections: Purimgifts 2021





	Barrayaran Roses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elf (Elfwreck)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfwreck/gifts).



> Written for Elfwreck in the 2021 Purim Gifts Celebration!

“Watch your step!” Cordelia leads Ekaterin around the corner of Vorkosigan House, sunshine to one side of her and massive dark paneling to the other, a narrow path of uneven slate paving beneath her feet. Ekaterin looks up, and finds a massive riot of dark green and blazing red climbing the wall above her, almost to the roof — a flourishing, far-flung rosebush, absolutely dripping with rosehips. 

Ekaterin’s breath catches. It’s undeniably beautiful, and it’s the biggest weed she’s ever seen in her _life_ , and Cordelia is smiling up at it, shading her eyes with her hand. That gives Ekaterin another moment for another glance, at Cordelia’s sharp profile, at her neat red-and-grey bun, at how her hairline is all red and the grey streaks begin about half a centimeter up the strands of hair. 

“The day I arrived,” Cordelia says, “I demanded the three credit tour, of course. The next day I set off exploring on my own, and came around here just as the grounds staff were trying to dig up this rose’s roots.” She smiles, the memory in her gray-green eyes, and Ekaterin watches, and listens. “It was blooming then, warm white petals tipped with pink, halfway up the wall, left to riot for years of neglect. It looked like a green starscape, like a nebula.” 

Her smile grows wry. “I composed four counterarguments, five, before I asked them to put the dirt back and leave the rosebush for me. It was — disconcerting when none of them even looked me in the eye, let alone objected in any way. They just filled in the dirt and filed away silently.” She sighs, and Ekaterin can see her then, the tall young Captain, the famous Penthisilea of the Escobar War. A woman she’d read about in her history books as a child, now standing beside her. “Then I remembered I was the new Lady Vorkosigan, and a little of what I’d been told that meant.” Cordelia looks at Ekaterin, and when she adds, “which wasn’t even the half of it,” Ekaterin knows exactly what she means, and when she nods Ekaterin nods in return.

Then she dares to say, “At least they’re not yellow,” and to answer Cordelia’s curious eyebrow lift adds, “they might have thought this was the biggest lion-puff on the planet.” That wins her a laugh, and when Cordelia grins wide at her, Ekaterin easily grins back.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the lovely song Barrayaran Roses:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAyqkTI_pMg


End file.
